Brian Patrick Friel was an Irish dramatist, short story writer and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company. He had been considered one of the greatest living English-language dramatists. He has been likened to an "Irish Chekhov" and described as "the universally accented voice of Ireland". His plays have been compared favourably to those of contemporaries such as Samuel Beckett, Arthur Miller, Harold Pinter and Tennessee Williams.
Stephen Rea is an Irish actor of stage and screen. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he began his career as a member of Dublin’s Focus Theatre, and came to the attention of film audiences as one of the close collaborators of director Neil Jordan. He is an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award and Tony Award nominee, a two-time BAFTA Award winner, and a three-time Irish Film and Television (IFTA) Award winner.
The history of Irish theatre begins in the Middle Ages and was for a long time confined to the courts of the Gaelic and "Old English" – descendants of 12th-century Norman invaders – inhabitants of Ireland. The first theatre building in Ireland was the Werburgh Street Theatre, founded in 1637, followed by the Smock Alley Theatre in 1662.
Sir William Tyrone Guthrie was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at his family's ancestral home, Annaghmakerrig, near Newbliss in County Monaghan, Ireland. He is famous for his original approach to Shakespearean and modern drama.
Dancing at Lughnasa is a 1990 play by dramatist Brian Friel set in County Donegal, Ireland in August 1936 in the fictional town of Ballybeg. It is a memory play told from the point of view of the adult Michael Evans, the narrator. He recounts the summer in his aunts' cottage when he was seven years old.
Conor McPherson is an Irish playwright, screenwriter and director of stage and film. In recognition of his contribution to world theatre, McPherson was awarded an honorary doctorate of literature in June 2013 by University College Dublin.
Adrian Dunbar is an Irish actor, director and singer, known for his television and theatre work. He co-wrote and starred in the 1991 film Hear My Song, nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the BAFTA awards.
Philadelphia, Here I Come! is a 1964 play by Irish dramatist Brian Friel. Set in the fictional town of Ballybeg, County Donegal, the play launched Friel onto the international stage. The play was first staged at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin on September 28, 1964.
Ciarán Hinds is an Irish actor from Belfast. Hinds is known for a range of screen and stage roles. He has starred in feature films including The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), Persuasion (1995), Oscar and Lucinda (1997), Road to Perdition (2002), The Sum of All Fears (2002), Munich (2005), Amazing Grace (2007), There Will Be Blood (2007), Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Silence (2016), First Man (2018) and Belfast (2021). He was nominated for an Oscar and BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Belfast.
Gary Mitchell is a Northern Irish playwright. By the 2000s, he had become "one of the most talked about voices in European theatre ... whose political thrillers have arguably made him Northern Ireland's greatest playwright".
Michael Bogdanov was a British theatre director known for his work with new plays, modern reinterpretations of Shakespeare, musicals and work for young people.
Joe Dowling is an artistic director. He was artistic director for the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. He is known for his work as artistic director of the Abbey Theatre in Ireland and his production involvement can be found in the Abbey Theatre archives. He has also directed plays in other theatres in Ireland as well as theatres in London, New York City, Washington D.C., Montreal, and Alberta. In 1975 he directed "Katie Roche" by Irish playwright Teresa Deevy.
Conleth Seamus Eoin Croiston Hill is a Northern Irish actor. He has performed on stage in productions in the UK, Ireland, Canada and the US. He has won two Laurence Olivier Awards and received two Tony Award nominations. He is best known for his role as Varys in the HBO series Game of Thrones (2011–2019).
Enda Walsh is an Irish playwright.
Michael Colgan, OBE is an Irish film and television producer who is former director of the Gate Theatre in Dublin.
Wesley Burrowes was an Irish playwright and screenwriter. Originally from Northern Ireland, he became a resident of the Republic of Ireland. He was best known as the chief scriptwriter on The Riordans and Glenroe, two of the most successful drama series produced by RTÉ Television.
Ronald Mason was a director and producer of drama for the BBC, a BBC executive in his native Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles, the Head of BBC Radio Drama as successor to Martin Esslin and was active in the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Professor Leon Rubin is a UK theatre director, theatre management consultant, professor, writer, and former Director of East 15 Acting School. He is a member of the Directors Guild of Great Britain and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society. He was the first foreigner to be awarded an Honorary Professorship of GITIS Russian Theatre Academy, Moscow, in 1997. He began his career as assistant director at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has been artistic director of three major UK theatre companies: Lyric Theatre, Belfast, Watford Palace theatre the Bristol Old Vic and Associate at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin and a frequent guest at the Stratford Festival, Canada. He has directed theatre production in many countries across the world. In April 2019 it was announced that he had decided to step down from his position as Director of East 15 Acting School, and joined the school's newly formed research department, undertaking an initial 2-year research programme and focusing on directing and writing. Routledge published his book, Rehearsing Shakespeare in 2021. He then became Dean of Performing Arts at LaSalle College of the Arts, Singapore.
Mark Gillis is a British actor, writer and director. He is best known for writing, producing and directing the feature film Sink.
Lalor Roddy is an Irish actor, described by The Irish Times theatre critic Fintan O'Toole as "surely the finest Irish actor of his generation".
